Author: Zhang Peng (The silk book "Fifty-two Prescriptions for Diseases" unearthed in Mawangdui) Recently, Tu Youyou once again mentioned in her Nobel Prize speech that the use of artemisia annua as medicine was first seen in the Han Dynasty's "Fifty-two Prescriptions for Disease

Author: Zhang Peng

(The silk book "Fifty-two Prescriptions for Diseases" unearthed in Mawangdui)

Recently, Tu Youyou once again mentioned in her Nobel Prize speech that the use of Artemisia annua as medicine was first seen in the Han Dynasty's "Fifty-Two Prescriptions for Diseases". The extraction of artemisinin was inspired by ancient Chinese medicine books. Many people don't know that "Fifty-Two Prescriptions for Diseases" is actually a silk book unearthed from a Han tomb in Mawangdui. The first person to discover and decipher this medical book was an expert who is not well known to the public. He is the Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Mr. Ma Jixing, a leading figure in medical history literature.

html Ma Jixing, who is now 90 years old, did not expect that more than 40 years ago, he went deep into the Mawangdui Han Tomb, looked at the torn silk scroll found in the tomb, pondered over it, and researched it word for word, and finally deciphered this question in "Fifty-Two Prescriptions for Diseases" The prescription of Artemisia annua actually paved the way for China’s first Nobel Prize in Medicine a few years later.

From Mawangdui silk scrolls to Dunhuang fragments, from Loulan ancient city to Wuwei ancient tombs, Mr. Ma Jixing inspected many well-known ancient tombs in China. He spent most of his life immersed in ancient medical books, accompanied by green lanterns and bright heads. Poor scripture. This is his only hobby, his lifelong career, and his lifelong dream. He is extremely lonely and extremely happy.

The author visited Professor Ma at his home. My first impression was that this old man, who is over 90 years old, is a bit "aloof". It is said that because he has been dealing with ancient books all his life, he also speaks in an "archaic style" and he never has to be popular. The language should be simple and don’t say a superfluous word.

Professor Ma Jixing has been passionate about traditional Chinese medicine since he was a child, and loves reading ancient Chinese medicine books most. At the age of 16, he came to Peking from Shandong to study at the North China Traditional Chinese Medicine School. After graduation, he entered Beiping Temporary University (today's Peking University School of Medicine) as an assistant teacher. After liberation, the 30-year-old Ma Jixing entered the newly established Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine and worked there. Quickly write manuscripts such as "The Origins of Traditional Chinese Medicine Materia Medica" and become a rising star in the academic world.

However, fate seemed to play a big joke on him. Two years later, Ma Jixing was labeled as a rightist and fell to the bottom of his life. From "wearing a hat" in 1957 to being rehabilitated in 1984, from the age of 33 to 59, an intellectual's golden years were spent in hardship and humiliation. He was even sent to Jiangxi May 7th Cadre School to grow rice and feed pigs.

However, it was during this period of turmoil that by chance, he was sent to inspect the ancient tomb, and he met the ancient recipe of Artemisia annua. When talking about the Mawangdui Han Tomb, Mr. Ma’s thoughts seemed to go back to more than 40 years ago.

"Among the thousands of precious cultural relics unearthed from the Mawangdui Han Tomb, the silk books and bamboo slips unearthed from Tomb No. 3 are the ones that attract the most attention from medical workers. The contents recorded in the silk books cover many aspects such as philosophy, history, science and technology, etc. In particular, medical books are the most precious. Among the 29 silk books, 5 are medical books. All four kinds of bamboo and wooden slips are medical books. However, the work of organizing the silk books and wooden slips is very difficult. The silk books are seriously damaged, and there are many difficulties in interpreting the text. Many problems are involved. Therefore, in 1974, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage organized some scholars to establish the Mawangdui Han Tomb Silk Collection Group. At that time, Ma Jixing joined the group as an expert on ancient documents from the Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Ma Jixing was able to join this group not because of luck, but because opportunity favors prepared minds. Mawangdui can be said to be the turning point of Ma Jixing's destiny. In fact, he was at the lowest point in his life at that time. He had been wearing the rightist label for more than 10 years and was sent to the May 7th Cadre School in Jiangxi to feed pigs. However, in the past 10 years, he has never given up on academic research. Although he can only do it secretly, his profound knowledge of ancient Chinese and his broad vision make his professional level in this field unmatched by almost anyone.

In 1974, when the Mawangdui Han Tomb Silk Collection Group was first established, Ma Jixing’s name was not on the list because he was still a rightist at the time. However, the first person sent by the institute returned without success due to insufficient professionalism, so Ma Jixing had to be sent in the end. As a result, he became the "longest and consistent expert" in the group, and made key contributions to "Fifty-two Prescriptions for Medical Books Unearthed at Mawangdui" and "Guidelines for Silk Paintings Unearthed from Mawangdui". Interpretation and decipherment of sex.

(Fragments of silk scrolls unearthed from Han tombs)

"The silk writing was written on half a piece of silk about 24 centimeters high. It was folded into more than thirty layers when buried. When it was unearthed, it was broken and damaged, and the handwriting was blurred. It was unframed by experts from the Palace Museum. Only after sorting and repairing can we study it." Mr. Ma recalled that it was a very difficult process to decipher the silk book. Because of its age and ancient writing, there were many difficulties in interpretation. The silk book was damaged in many places and the handwriting was unclear. Ma Jixing relied on the foundation of thousands of ancient Chinese medicine books in his mind, verified each other through these ancient books, and conquered word by word, and finally deciphered this ancient medical book.

"In the silk books unearthed from the Han Tomb No. 3 in Mawangdui, Changsha, there is a long-lost medical prescription book. It has no title, only 52 subtitles centered on diseases, so we named it "Five "Twelve Disease Prescriptions" is the oldest medical prescription found in my country so far. It has 52 questions and 9911 words. Each question is a method to treat a type of disease, ranging from one or two prescriptions to more than 20 prescriptions in total. 280 square meters, and there are 103 names of diseases and symptoms involved in the book, covering internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, etc. "When Mr. Ma talked about the silk book, the names and numbers came out casually, and he knew them clearly. It was in "Fifty-Two Prescriptions for Diseases" that the now-famous "Qinghao" appeared. It is one of the 243 medicinal names appearing in the book. "Some medicinal names have never been seen in the literature of the past, such as Artemisia annua. In order to facilitate collection, the book also records the local names of Artemisia annua in Jingchu." This ancient medical book, which was born during the Qin and Han Dynasties, can be said to be The precious medical experience accumulated by the ancient working people over a long period of time.

("Guide Picture" unearthed from Mawangdui Han Tomb)

Ma Lao mentioned that there is another important medical discovery in Mawangdui Han Tomb No. 3, which is a silk painting with various sports postures. There are There are more than 40 images, which are the famous "Guide Pictures". "Daoyin" has been popular in the Spring and Autumn Period, which means "guiding the qi to make it harmonious, and pulling the body to make it soft". It is a medical sports method that combines breathing exercises and body movements. After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, various health-care exercises were derived from Daoyin, such as Baduanjin, Yi Jin Jing, Tai Chi, etc. It can be said that it is the originator of martial arts Qigong and internal strength.

"In the "Guidance Picture" unearthed from the Mawangdui Han Tomb, it is clearly marked that certain actions can cure diseases. For example, the guidance picture for 'knee pain' shows a person bending his knees, while for 'deafness', a person stands. Stretch your arms horizontally to the left and right. " Ma Lao believes that the silk painting "Guide Diagram" is a new discovery in ancient Chinese medical scientific materials, filling a gap in the history of medicine and sports in my country during the Qin and Han Dynasties, and is a unique guide therapy in my country. Provided extremely valuable information and clues.

After the work of the Han tomb arrangement team was completed, Ma Jixing could not let go of the Mawangdui silk books. He believed that the Mawangdui medical books were extremely precious. Without comprehensive research and annotation, it would be difficult for more researchers to recognize their value. , so he spent 20 years, relying on his profound knowledge in medical literature, to review medical books and literary and historical classics, and completed the nearly 1 million words "An Explanation of Mawangdui Ancient Medical Books", which became the leading expert in the study of Mawangdui Medical Books in China. First person.

The study of the silk books from the Mawangdui Han tomb made Ma Jixing suddenly fascinated by the ancient medical books unearthed from the ancient tombs, because those ancient medical books with only names but lost contents are likely to leave clues in the unearthed cultural relics, so he began to During his inspection and trek across the country, he left his footprints in the ancient tombs of Wuwei, Dunhuang in Gansu, Yunmeng in Hubei, Mianyang in Sichuan, the Heicheng ruins in Inner Mongolia, Turpan in Xinjiang, ancient Loulan, and Hotan...

(The "Acupuncture Diagram" in the Dunhuang Scrolls is currently in the British Museum)

However, many unearthed ancient medical books have been lost abroad due to various reasons, which made Professor Ma sad. After years of investigation, he finally listed an overseas Catalog of lost ancient medical books, 137 libraries in 11 countries and two regions in the world have collected 27,250 ancient Chinese medicine books.Ma Jixing has traveled around the world with his research team, and has so far copied and returned a total of 266 rare medical books and manuscripts from the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing editions, with a total of 174,152 pages copied, and has published or photocopied 69 rare ancient medical books. Medical books, this is the largest rescue and return of rare and ancient Chinese medicine books in modern times in China. It is called by the industry as a move that "contributes to the present and will benefit the future".

Mr. Ma has spent his whole life reading, searching for books, collecting books, and loving books. In 1994, he did something that surprised everyone. He donated 14 96 volumes of rare ancient books that he had collected over the years to the library of the Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Some of them were gifts from foreign friends, and some were from foreign countries. He found it with great pains while he was abroad.

As we all know, rare and ancient books are extremely valuable. A set of rare books can even be exchanged for a luxury home. Mr. Ma has been living in a small dormitory for many years and riding an old bicycle to work, but he donated all the precious ancient books without hesitation. Because he always believes that these treasures of traditional Chinese medicine do not belong to individuals, they should belong to the country.

(Ma Lao’s life is full of knowledge and immersed in ancient books, and every book is the fruit of his hard work)

Researching ancient books is undoubtedly a lonely career, and you may spend your whole life hiding in the pile of old papers, obscurity, nameless and unprofitable, not in line with the trend, and walking alone. . For Ma Jixing, he persisted for a lifetime because he loved to the extreme. In the eyes of outsiders, his life is as boring as the ancient books he studies, but Mr. Ma enjoys it, and this is the secret of his health-"use your brain, use your body, but not your heart."

"Being unmotivated means not to have excessive desires, and don't compare yourself with others when you see them. Use your brain to learn, and use your body to take a walk. It's best to be simple and plain."

Explanation: "Beijing flavor" is The headline column of Beijing Evening News senior reporter Zhang Peng is all original articles, and the content mainly focuses on celebrity interviews, Beijing stories, and close-ups of characters. If you use it, please contact the author in advance, WeChat ID zp535797667.